9315. When Mine angel shall go before thee. That this signifies a life in accordance with the commandments of the Lord, is evident from the signification of “going before thee,” when said of the Lord, who is here the “angel of Jehovah,” as being to teach the commandments of faith and of life, thus also a life in accordance with these commandments (that “to go,” and “to journey,” denote to live, see n. 1293, 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, 8417, 8420, 8557, 8559); and from the signification of “the angel of Jehovah,” as being the Lord as to the Divine Human (of which above, n. 9303, 9306). That the Lord as to the Divine Human is meant by the “angel,” is because the many angels who appeared before the coming of the Lord into the world were Jehovah Himself in a human form, that is, in the form of an angel. This is very evident from the fact that the angels who appeared were called “Jehovah,” as for instance those who appeared to Abraham and were called “Jehovah” (Genesis 18:1, 13-14, 17, 20, 26, 33); also the angel who appeared to Gideon, of whom we read in Judges, and who also was called “Jehovah” (6:12, 14, 16, 22-24); besides others elsewhere. Jehovah Himself in the human form, or what is the same, in the form of an angel, was the Lord.

[2] At that time His Divine Human appeared as an angel; of which the Lord Himself speaks in John:

Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad. Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58).

Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:5).

That Jehovah could not appear in any other way, is evident also from the words of the Lord in John:

Ye have not heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His shape (John 5:37).

Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he who is with the Father, he hath seen the Father (John 6:46).

From these passages it may be known what is meant by the Lord from eternity.

[3] The reason why it pleased the Lord to be born a man, was that He might put on the Human actually, and make it Divine, in order to save the human race. Know therefore that the Lord is Jehovah Himself or the Father in a human form, which also the Lord Himself teaches in John:

I and the Father are one (John 10:30).

Jesus said, From henceforth ye have known and have seen the Father; He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:7, 9, 11).

All things that are Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine (John 17:10).

[4] This great mystery is stated in John in these words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All thing were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father. No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:1-3, 14, 18);

“the Word” denotes the Divine truth which has been revealed to men; and because this could not be revealed except by Jehovah as a Man, that is, except by Jehovah in a human form, thus by the Lord, therefore it is said, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.” It is known in the church that by “the Word” is meant the Lord, because this is plainly said: “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.” That the Divine truth could not be revealed to men except by Jehovah in a human form, is also clearly stated: “no man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath set Him forth.”

[5] From all this it is evident that the Lord from eternity was Jehovah, or the Father, in a human form; but not yet in the flesh, for an angel has no “flesh.” And because Jehovah or the Father willed to put on the whole human, for the salvation of the human race, therefore He took on the flesh also. Wherefore it is said “God was the Word, and the Word was made flesh.” And in Luke:

Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have (Luke 24:39);

by these words the Lord taught that He was no longer Jehovah under the form of an angel; but that He was Jehovah Man, which is also meant by these words of the Lord:

I came out from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go unto the Father (John 16:28).

(That the Lord when in the world made His Human Divine, see n. 1616, 1725, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2033, 2034, 2083, 2523, 2751, 2798, 3038, 3043, 3212, 3241, 3318, 3637, 3737, 4065, 4180, 4211, 4237, 4286, 4585, 4687, 4692, 4724, 4738, 4766, 5005, 5045, 5078, 5110, 5256, 6373, 6700, 6716, 6849, 6864, 6872, 7014, 7211, 7499, 8547, 8864, 8865, 8878; also that He expelled all the human that was from the mother, until at last He was not the son of Mary, n. 2159, 2649, 2776, 4963, 5157; see especially n. 3704, 4727, 9303, 9306, and what has been shown about these things in the passages cited in n. 9194, 9199)

4585. And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath. That this signifies that now was the spiritual of the celestial, is evident from the signification of “journeying from Bethel” as being what is continuous of the advancement of the Divine from the Divine natural (that “journeying” denotes what is continuous may be seen above, n. 4554, here in the supreme sense what is continuous of the advancement of the Divine, and that “Bethel” is the Divine natural, n. 4559, 4560); from the signification of a “tract of land in coming,” as being what is intermediate (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “Ephrath,” as being the spiritual of the celestial in a former state (of which below where Bethlehem is treated of, which is the spiritual of the celestial in a new state), hence it is said, “Ephrath, this is Bethlehem” (verse 19).

[2] In these verses the subject treated of is the advancement of the Lord’s Divine toward interior things, for when the Lord made His Human Divine He advanced in a like order to that in which He makes man new by regeneration, namely, from what is external to interior things, thus from the truth which is in the ultimate of order to a good which is interior, and is called spiritual good, and from this to celestial good. But these things cannot fall into the understanding of anyone unless it is known what the external man and the internal man are, and that the former is distinct from the latter, although while man is living in the body they appear as one; also unless it is known that the natural constitutes the external man, and the rational the internal; and further, unless it is known what the spiritual is and what the celestial.

[3] These things have indeed already been occasionally unfolded, nevertheless they who have previously had no idea about them in consequence of having no desire to know the things of eternal life, find it impossible to have any such idea. Such people say, “What is the internal man? Is it possible that it can be distinct from the external? What is the natural, and the rational? Are they not one? Moreover, What is the spiritual, and the celestial? Is not this a new distinction? We have heard of the spiritual, but that the celestial is something else we have not heard.” The case however is thus: They who have not previously acquired any idea on these subjects, for the reason that the cares of the world and of the body have possession of all their thought and take away all desire of knowing anything else; or because they deem it sufficient to know their doctrinal tenets as they are commonly known, and that it is of no consequence to have any further thought about the matter, saying, “We see the world, but the other life we do not see, perhaps it exists and perhaps not”—much persons put away all these subjects, for even at the first look they at heart reject them.

[4] Nevertheless as they are such things as are contained in the internal sense of the Word, and these cannot be explained without adequate terms, and we have no terms more adequate for expressing exterior things than the term natural, for interior things than the term rational, for those things which are of truth the term spiritual, and those which are of good the term celestial, it is absolutely necessary to make use of these terms, for without terms adapted to the subject nothing can be described. In order therefore that those who desire to know may receive some idea of what the spiritual of the celestial is which Benjamin represents and which “Bethlehem” signifies, I will briefly explain it. In the supreme sense the subject that has been treated of is the glorification of the Lord’s natural, and in the relative sense the regeneration of man as to his natural. That Jacob represented the man of the church as to his external, and Israel as to his internal, thus Jacob as to his exterior natural, and Israel as to his interior natural, has been shown above (n. 4286); for the spiritual man is from the natural, and the celestial man is from the rational. It has also been shown that the Lord’s glorification advanced from external things to more interior things, in like manner as the regeneration of man advances, and that for the sake of this representation Jacob was called “Israel.”

[5] But a further advance toward more interior things is now treated of, namely, toward the rational, for as just said, the rational constitutes the internal man. The intermediate between the internal of the natural and the external of the rational is what is meant by the spiritual of the celestial, which is signified by “Ephrath” and “Bethlehem,” and is represented by Benjamin. This intermediate derives somewhat from the internal of the natural which is “Israel,” and from the external of the rational which is “Joseph;” for that which is intermediate derives something from each extreme, otherwise it could not serve as an intermediate. In order that anyone from being spiritual may become celestial, he must needs advance through this intermediate, for to climb up to higher things without an intermediate is not possible.

[6] And therefore the nature of the advance through this intermediate is here described by Jacob’s coming to Ephrath, and by Rachel’s bringing forth Benjamin there. Hence it is evident that by their journeying from Bethel, and by there being yet a tract of land to come to Ephrath, is signified what is continuous of the advancement of the Lord’s Divine from the Divine natural to the spiritual of the celestial which is signified by “Ephrath” and “Bethlehem,” and is represented by Benjamin. The spiritual of the celestial is the intermediate that is spoken of, being called “spiritual” from the spiritual man, which viewed in itself is the interior of the natural man, and “celestial” from the celestial man, which viewed in itself is the rational man. “Joseph” is the exterior rational man, and therefore the celestial of the spiritual from the rational is predicated of him.